01 May 2000 | Print  |

FileMaker 5 Internet Security Holes

by Geoff Duncan

FileMaker 5 Internet Security Holes -- Blue World Communications has published a FileMaker 5 security alert outlining serious Internet security issues with FileMaker Pro 5 and FileMaker Pro 5 Unlimited's XML publishing and email capabilities. Two exploits enable an interloper to acquire the entire contents of any Web-published database via email or as XML regardless of Web security settings; another enables anyone on the Internet to use FileMaker 5's email capabilities to send arbitrary email messages (a problem sure to delight spammers worldwide). These revelations come a week after FileMaker Inc. published documentation of FileMaker Pro 5's Web publishing capabilities in FileMaker Developer 5, although portions of FileMaker's XML capabilities have been documented on FileMaker's Web site for five weeks. As of this writing, FileMaker has not acknowledged any problems, and the only workarounds currently appear to be disabling FileMaker 5's Web Companion, reverting to FileMaker Pro 4.x (which does not have these security issues, but cannot open FileMaker 5 databases), or using a middleware product like Blue World's Lasso as a gateway for incoming requests. [GD]

<http://www.blueworld.com/blueworld/news/ 05.01.00-FM5_Security.html>
<http://db.tidbits.com/article/05904>

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